Racial Diversity of Patient Population Represented on United States Plastic Surgeons' Webpages
Katherine Wang*1, Nicole DePaola1, James Frageau1, Tara L. Huston2
1Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY; 2Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Stony Brook University Hospital, Stony Brook, NY
Current literature demonstrates a lack of racial diversity in plastic surgery media. However, to our knowledge, no study has yet examined the racial diversity of webpage content from a patient-search perspective. The objective of this study is to determine if there is a racial discrepancy between the US Census, ASPS statistics, and the media featuring implied patients on US plastic surgeons' webpages as if from a patient perspective.
A Google search was completed using the terms, "(state) plastic surgeon." The first 10 relevant websites were collected for each state, and homepages were analyzed. In line with previous studies, the implied patients in media were classified into one of six skin tone categories: I-Ivory, II-Beige, III-Light brown, IV-Olive, V-Brown, and VI-Dark brown. These correlate to Fitzpatrick Phototypes. Skin tone was used as a guide to measure racial representation in the media, with the caveat that skin tone does not absolutely correlate to racial identity. Categories I-III were further classified as "white" and IV-VI as "nonwhite." This data was compared to the 2020 ASPS demographics report and 2020 US Census.
4010 individuals were analyzed from 496 webpages. 91.89% were classified as "white" and 8.11% "nonwhite." The distribution by category was as follows: I=264, II=826, III=2586, IV= 260, V=69, and VI=5. Using chi-square analyses, a statistically significant difference was found between the racial representation within this sample and that of the 2020 US Census nationally (p<0.001) and regionally (p<0.001), the 2020 ASPS Cosmetic Summary Data (p<0.001), and the 2020 ASPS Reconstructive Summary Data (p<0.001).
This study highlights the significant difference between racial representation on US plastic surgeons' webpages and the demographics of patients they serve. Further analyses should identify the impact of these representational disparities on patient care and clinical outcomes, as well as examine how best to measure racial diversity and disparities in patient-oriented media.
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